Most pillow designs concentrate on supporting one specific area of the human body and are rigid in shape, not allowing for the same pillow to be used in a variety of different positions. These devices fail to accommodate people of different sizes and shapes using the same pillow in many diverse positions.
Several pillows have been designed to support an adult's head or a child's head while traveling in a vehicle or while sleeping. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,262 (Davis), U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,081 (Price), U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,728 (Lake), U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,085 (Antonio), and U.S. Pat. No. 2,167,622 (Bentivoglio) all talk about support of the head or neck regions. Those devices fail to support several parts of the body and have limited uses.
A pillow designed for the support of infants and small children while asleep in a sitting position is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,085 (Antonio). It consists of a thin, U-shaped inset of foam rubber covered with fabric. It is placed about the head so that the neck fits into the U-shaped opening and the free ends extend down the chest of the infant, forming a shelf-like configuration about the shoulders. When the infant nods its head downward, forward, or to either side, the shelf of foam rubber supports the head from further movement. This device again, supports only the head, not any other portion of the infant's body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,890 (Roberts) discloses an L-shaped pillow used by nursing mothers. One arm of the pillow is designed to support the baby while the other arm supports the mother's back. Both of the mother's arms are not supported at the same time, therefore the child would have to be put down and the pillow turned over once the mother is ready to change sides. There is no indication that this pillow could be used for any other support purposes. The present invention allows for all of these uses and more in a simple, durable cost-effective manner.